January 2006 Dedicated To Preserving The Marque Since 1973

Dipstick The “The Newsletter of the Tidewater MG Classics Car Club” www.mg.org

Volume XXXIII, Issue 1

UPCOMING ACTIVITIES

Check www.mg.org for the latest info! Dec. 27 Holiday Light Tour, the Beach Pub at 7:00, 6:00 for dinner (see December Dipstick) Jan. 3 Tuesday meeting at Frankie’s Place for Ribs (see back page) Jan. 15 Dipstick Deadline Feb. 2 Wednesday meeting at ?? HOST NEEDED!! Please call Beckey to volunteer Feb. 15 Dipstick Deadline

MARQUE TIME

Many thanks to Cynthia and Andy for hosting the TMGC Holiday Party for yet another year. The Holiday Party is always a nice way to meet new members and renew acquaintances from years past. Many members who cannot make the regular monthly meetings make an appearance at the Holiday Party.

Again, many thanks to the members who responded to our call for toys for the Peninsula Salvation Army. They were delivered to grateful “Sallies” that Sunday at the car show that TMGC assisted K-Mart in putting on. The car show drew over 120 participants, all of whom donated toys to the Salvation Army. Voting was by popular vote, and in-cluded such categories as “Santa’s Other Ride,” “Best En-gine Sound,” “Best Sound System playing Holiday Music,” as well as “Best British”. Following the show, we were in-vited to Chuck & Becky Hassler’s for some delicious cook-ies, warm coffee and cider, and a nice gathering out of the cold.

As I reflect on the year 2005, we had some great times together. We had a Valentine’s Day Rallye that many couples enjoyed; we had meetings and tech sessions in a dozen homes; we had almost a dozen cars out for an over-night winery tour; almost two dozen LBCs traversed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel to the Eastern Shore; and we had some that broke down, some that got started for the first time, some that were sold, and some that were bought. And we’re not through yet! Some brave (foolish?) souls will ven-ture out to the Virginia Beach oceanfront to drive our won-derful MGs down the boardwalk to view the Holiday Lights at the Beach!

I would like to take a minute to wish each and every one of you a safe and happy holiday season, and to wish our extended TMGC family all the best for the year. I believe it was Hank Giffen who said at the 30th Anniversary Party, “It is the cars that bring us together, and the people who bring us back”.

Safety Fast, Alan

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Officers and Committees

President Alan Watson 426-2600 Vice President J.D. Hawthorne 723-0630 Secretary Doug Kennedy 460-5037 Treasurer Jim Villers 481-6398 Editors Peggy Craig 226-7755 Susan Bond 482-5222 Membership Robin Watson 721-9277 Activities Beckey Watson 426-2600 Historian Susan Bond 482-5222 Technical Mark Childers 432-9155 Regalia Becky Hassler 874-1477 Clubs Mike Ash 495-0307

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Fall Tech Session at the Bond’s Mike Haag

Photos by Mike Haag, Roy Wiley, Doug Wilson, Susan Bond

“What a great Fall day for a drive in the M G ” I thought as I was heading over to Sue and Terry B o n d ’ s

house for their annual hosting of the Fall Tech Session, this year held on November 20th. Although I go to the tech sessions to learn from others, mostly for myself it’s another opportunity to socialize with friends. Over the past 12 years or so that I have attended these events, I have actually worked on my car once, when Vince helped me replace a rear axle seal. Little did I realize that things would soon change, and I would be holding my own little tech session beside the road!

Driving down North Landing Road and then Mt. Pleasant Road after I crossed into Chesapeake, over

Membership and New Members Robin Watson

Total membership 108

Three new members this month! If you would like to add the information to your new Directory here it is:

Miguel & Victoria Acuna 5241 Queen Bishop Ln. Williamsburg VA 23185-1969 (757) 565-1657, ar164@mac.com with an MGB-GT

Judy Acord 3992 Driftwood Way Williamsburg, VA. 23188 acordjudy@hotmail.com with a 1977 MGB

Bob & Dana Reisse 211 Kinnakeet Run Yorktown, VA 23693 (757) 223-4449, rareisse@postoffice.worldnet.att.net with a 1969 MGC-GT and 1976 MGB

the normal noise coming from the car and the radio, I momentarily heard a high squealing noise. Momentar-ily is usually good, and after it disappeared, I wondered what that was. About a mile down the road, it hap-pened again, then quickly went away. I kept on driv-ing, thinking I would check things out under the bonnet when I got to the tech session. Knowing that things seldom go as planned, I wasn’t too surprised when I started to notice a faint burning smell emanating from the front of the car, and wafting back into the cockpit. Mt. Pleasant Road is a busy, two-lane road with deep ditches on either side. Not the kind of place I wanted to have a breakdown, whether from the car or nerves, or both! Being it was Sunday morning, I figured a little prayer wouldn’t hurt. Before I knew it, a small parking lot on the left, in front of an abandoned church ap-peared. Divine intervention or not, I turned in and got out. Since there were no flames or smoke billowing out, I opened the bonnet to see what was going on. Now, I’m no master mechanic, but I do know that a fan belt and its associated pulleys should all be turning at the same time. The alternator pulley wasn’t turning, and realizing this wasn’t very good for the life of the fan belt, I quickly shut off the engine. Grabbing a few hand tools from the boot, I loosened the alternator and tried to turn the alternator pulley. Well, now I knew where the squeal had come from, as the alternator bear-ing had decided to pack itself up. I tried calling Sue, and after failing to reach her, I called Alan Watson and left a message saying I had broken down on Mt. Pleas-ant Road, and might not make it to the tech session. Soon thereafter, Roy Wiley, on his way to the tech ses-sion, stopped by to offer assistance. Realizing there wasn’t anything else to do, he offered to take me there, and bring me back if we could find another alternator.

A s we arrived at the Bond’s house, my cell phone rang. Robin W a t s o n called to say that Sue had a spare alter-nator if I needed it. We were talking to each other on cell phones as we approached each other on the path to the garage! Isn’t modern tele-communications great? On our ad-venture to MG2003 in St. Louis, Sue took along a spare alternator in case we needed one along the way. Thankfully we didn’t need it then, but boy was I glad when she approached me holding that same alternator in her hands. After a few hellos, Roy and I headed

Mike Haag and Roy Wiley

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back to my car, where we found it still there, undis-turbed. About 15 minutes later, I had the replacement installed and ready to give it a try. The fan belt looked ok, so I fired her up, the ignition light was out, and off we went, with Roy following behind in his Mercedes.

We finally got there around 12:30 PM. Fig-ures, the first tech session I signed up to write about and I have to miss the first half! Using some editorial license, I’ll say that many donuts were consumed, much coffee was drunk, and a lot of work got done that morning. Actually, there was a very good turnout for the tech session, as various folks were attending to sev-eral cars, while others watched and/or “kicked tyres”. Besides Sue and Terry, Roy Wiley, and myself, others in attendance were (in no particular order): Doug Wil-son, Craig Cummings, Chuck & Becky Hassler, Philip Ford, Harry Watson, John Terschak, Vince Groover, Frank Linse, Mark Childers, J.D. Hawthorne, Jim Villers, Robin & Olive Watson, Andy Wallach, Jim Metzger, Bill Olcheski, Michele Peters, and Robert Perrone. And lest we forget, there was a good turnout of MGBs, one MGA, one Midget, a few moderns, and of course, Terry’s Model T Ford, along with a couple of his other, more modern classics.

As I walked into the garage, the first thing I noticed was a group of folks working on install-ing a new wind-screen. Last year, Philip Ford trailered his newly painted rubber bumper MGB to the tech session to get some work done on it, only to dis-

cover that the windscreen was damaged along the way. This year Philip came sans MGB, but carrying new windscreen glass to install in the frame. With the help of John Terschak and others, Philip left carrying out his new windscreen. Let’s hope it made it home ok. Check out the picture of Andy wielding a rubber mallet while providing some minor adjustments to the wind-screen frame. Sue’s ’74 MGB GT sat in the garage,

with a cover p r o t e c t i n g its new paint job. Like a s edu c t r e s s giving us a glimpse of a little leg or other ap-p e n d a g e s , the GT had her bonnet open where we could see

her gleaming, new engine compartment adorned with a few shiny new bits and pieces. Other than actually fin-ishing it, isn’t this the best part of a restoration? That time when you are installing new or refurbished parts to a newly painted body, slowly watching it all come together just as you had envisioned it would.

J i m Villers had his ’ 7 1 M G B jacked up and was checking on the front s u s p e n s i o n and steering rack, trying to locate one of those little, elusive shakes we all have from time to time. The car, not the owner, that is. John Terschak adjusted the carbs on his rubber

bumper M G B . A rub-b e r bumper M G B w i t h r e a l c a r b s , not that s i n g l e

Zenith carb that was on the later models. Ditto for Chuck Hassler and his ’80 MGB LE with dual SU’s. Chuck showed me his conversion, and told me how

Doug Wilson, Phillip Ford, Andy Wallach

Phillip and the fin-ished windscreen

J.D. Hawthorne and Jim Villers

Terry was showing the Model T to Michele and Rob. Hopefully they got a ride in it, as it is quite an experi-ence.

The Fall Tech Session at the Bonds is always a great time, something many of us look forward to every year. I was very fortunate this year, and I want to re-lay a big thanks to Roy Wiley for going out of his way to help another TMGC member in need. Sue, I promise I’ll get your alternator returned soon. Once again, we were blessed with great weather for another club event, as that night it started to rain, and the following Mon-day was cold and rainy. As they say, timing is every-thing.

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great it runs. One of these days, when I no longer care to keep the regular license plates and annual inspection, I’ll take the SU conver-sion plunge too. Jim Metzger had the bonnet open on his rubber bumper Midget, and was getting help with some carb issues, and I believe a general checkout and tune-up.

Trying to refrain from eating donuts in the af-ternoon, I was getting a little hungry so I ventured to the front garage for some lunch. Along with some great sandwich fixings, the refrigerator was well stocked with a fine selection of English beers, and Eng-lish and Scottish style beers from the US. Decisions, decisions… When I got back to the garage, Bill Ol-

cheski had shown up in his rubber bumper MGB, and was get-ting some help adjusting the driver side door. Seems the previous

owner did some un-planned adjusting of it when he backed up with the door open, and now it wouldn’t close quite right. Frank Linse had the door adjusted and operating like new in a short time, after Sue’s ’73 MGB GT donor car out back gave up a couple of door hinge screws. Craig Cum-mings got a front side marker light off of it for his MGC GT. A couple of us wearing the too familiar rose-colored MG glasses commented that “this car doesn’t look that bad”. We quickly took them off though and came to our senses. Like the ’66 MGB basket case I bought for $150. I should have left it sitting in the field to rust away back to nature, or wherever they rust to. Ten years later and some new sheet metal, it’s still a basket case.

Some of the Bond’s neighbors stopped by to visit, after seeing all those funny looking little cars in the drive-way. By this time, with the sunlight just starting to fade, many of the members had departed

to enjoy what was left of a Sunday after-noon by driving their MGs home. Not wanting to take a chance of any more electrical gremlins stranding me in the dark, I took off for home. As I left the driveway,

Bill Olcheski and Frank Linse

J.D. Hawthorne and Jim Metzger

Holiday Party December 9, 2005

Photos by Mark Hiby and Susan Bond

Hosts Cynthia Faschini and Andy Wallach

Diane, Eleanor and Josh Wallach

Doug Wilson

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Barbara and Bob Ross, Harry and Kennie Watson

Frank and Anna Worrell

Mike and Jennifer Ash

Lara and J.D. Hawthorne

Jack and Becky Dawson

Renee and Bill Olcheski

Mike Haag and Denise Starke

Jim Villers, Richard and Joan Leal

Betsy and Doug Kennedy

Linda and Jim Freeh

Wendy and Mark Hiby

Janice Klasek and Jerry Johnson

Olive and Robin Watson

Frank Linse and Debbie Eisenbath

Carl and Katherine Fisher

Robert Perrone and Michelle Peters

Robert and Faye Davis

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Beckey and Alan Watson

Marilyn and Roy Wiley

Becky and Chuck Hassler

Kate Fisher

Lesley and John Terschak

Aldino Faschini

Mark Hiby, John and Debbie Jones

Charity donations which will go to the Salvation Army

Immediate Past President Andy Wallach and the winner of the President’s Award, Mike Haag

The President’s Award Alan Watson

The Tidewater MG Classics President’s Award, instituted several years ago, recognizes those members whose contributions to the club are routinely “above and beyond.” This year, we honor an individual who has contributed significantly to our club in numerous ways over the past several years. Mike Haag has been a member for many years. He has served in the capacity of Vice-President for the 2000 and 2001 terms, and then as President for 2002 and 2003. In addition to these responsibilities, in 2000 Mike took on the daunting challenge of the official TMGC Web-Master. As Web-Master, Mike has sole responsibility for layout and design of www.mg.org web page. He main-tains it on a regular basis, keeping it extremely up-to-date with new pictures on the home page, updated ac-tivity calendar, updated and comprehensive photo gal-lery, as well as a current classified section. All this while using a dial-up connection! Since Mike assumed the Web-Master duties, the TMGC website has re-ceived over 76,000 hits to date! Despite owning a ‘B, an ‘A, a Studebaker and a Corvette, Mike still finds time to enjoy numerous, if not most, TMGC club events. He has become a regular on the annual winery tours, as well as shows such as Waynesboro and Browns Island. However, he is probably best known as one of the TMGC Ambassa-dors who attend the annual NAMGBR meetings, whether in New Jersey, Washington State or even Cleveland. Mike, for all that you have done and continue to do for Tidewater MG Classics, on behalf of the entire club, a heart-felt “thank-you!”

CHARITY DRIVE Robin Watson

Photos by Robin Watson, Mike Haag, Doug Wilson, Susan Bond

This year our Activities Director, Beckey, and

members did not have to find a charity-- it found us, and then Beckey put the Club’s end together and in-stead of just supplying the gifts we finished up with a winter car show and a drive up to Newport News on December 11th.

It all started when we were on our winery run to Williamsburg on October 29th. A group of members caravanned up to Hardees on Victoria Blvd. in Hamp-ton to meet up with the local members. While there we were observed by the manager of K-Mart who came over to look at the cars and talk to Beckey, asking if we

would like to take part in a charity and car show where the entrance fee would be to bring an unwrapped toy that would be given to the Salvation Army to hand out to children. K-Mart would provide a lunch for all those entering. A great number of our members that were not going to make the run brought their gifts to this year’s Holiday Party at Andy and Cynthia’s on Dec 9th.

On the day of the show, Alan & Beckey headed off directly to the show (loaded down with members’

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Dipstick Certificate of Appreciation Winners: Jim Villers, Frank Worrell, Becky & Chuck Hassler, Jennifer Ash, Andy Wallach, Dipstick Award Winner Robin Watson, Editors Peggy Craig & Susan Bond, Harry Watson, Mark Hiby, Mike Haag, J.D. Haw-thorne. In front: Alan & Beckey Watson. Not pictured: Doug Kennedy, Frank Hurley, Mark Childers, Cynthia Faschini, Geoff Wheatley, Sam Kern, Doug Wilson, Mike Knepler, Mark Davidoski, Bob McClaren, Chuck Hudson, Mike Donovan, Terry Bond

Dipstick Award Winner Robin Watson with editors Peggy Craig and Susan Bond

gifts) so that they could help with the staging. They asked Olive and I if we would head up the caravan (also loaded with extra members’ gifts). We met up at the old Lake Wright with Susan Bond and granddaugh-ter, Taylor, and Bernie Imdahl, and Vince Groover dropped off his contribution. Added to the MGs were two Triumph TR 3’s--David Hunt’s and Al Shcevcs Jr.’s, Doug & Sheila Brickner’s 34 Plymouth “PF”, Fred Sisko’s 29 Model “A” Streetrod, Don Trammell’s 37 Ford, Tom & Cindi Potter’s 65 Mustang, Les Sorey’s 50 Chevy and Robert Ashburner’s 38 Ford.

Sorry if I missed anyone out on this drive. We had a good drive up until we got to Mercury Blvd. where they were moving the line markers ready for the

next work schedule and taking all lanes down to one. We arrived at the parking lot where Alan and Beckey guided us into the right lanes. What a car park full of great cars! Here we soon started to meet up with other

TMGC club members. Doug and Craig had driven up together, Frank and Kerry Hur-ley were there in the D a i m l e r , F r a n k Worrell and son Mor-ris, and new members, Miguel & Victoria Acuna from Williams-burg. After the car show

was over and the winning t r o p h i e s handed out to some members we headed to Chuck and Becky Has-sler’s house for extra re- 8

f r e s h m e n t s and warmth. While there, Judy Acord joined the TMGC with her 77 B, and Bob & Dana Reisse joined with their 69 C-GT and 76 B. In addi-

tion, Ed Constan-tine with a 75 B took an applica-tion form. Also, at the house was Drew DeBlass with his 80 TR 7.

Tech Tip Craig Cummings

For those of you who thought Doug and I could make it to and from a car show this year, at least once......WRONG MG TD tech tip #12-11 If you drive over a bump at high speed and the car quits, after you have checked everything else, bang on the coil......starts every time..... I hope 2006 is better for us all....Ho Ho ho!!! Happy Holidays Craig

Awards presentation — That’s our own Beckey Watson on the right

Donated toys

MGs at Hasslers

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REBUILDING AN OVERDRIVE L/H TYPE Robin Watson

Bold type indicates mistakes to avoid or things you can do if you do not have the right tools. This all started when I decided to fit an overdrive to my 74 B that Chuck and Becky Hassler had let me

have over a year ago. I decided to take a chance and put new seals and “O” rings in the valves and the solenoid area, but not to strip down the whole unit as it had been working OK when taken out of service. When I put it in the car it did not work straight away. I talked to Bob West, my neighbor who is an expert on MG gearboxes and over-drives. He told me a

couple of things to look for. One of them was that the cam that operates the pump is positioned on the shaft with a steel ball or key (depending on the model). When I removed the bottom cover I set up my remote starter and with the car in top gear and the plugs out I noticed that the pump was not moving when I cranked the engine over. As I took the pump apart to check on the cam I noticed that the pump was wedged in a com-pressed position (this was the reason I could not see the pump working when I turned the engine over). I found this was caused by me putting the pump in place 180° out, the shoulder where the pin goes through to hold the roller is offset and the thinner side has to go towards the housing that is close to where the pump fits. After putting the pump back and this time checking to make sure it moved when cranking the en-gine before putting the cover back on, the overdrive kicked in when the switch was thrown. When talking to Susan she asked if I could help her do the same to both her overdrives, she normally does her own work but because she had never been into this area thought help would be a good idea first time. Unfortunately, when we took the bottom cover off the unit that was out of the car and was to go in the GT that Susan is rebuilding, we found three pieces of a broken thrust washer laying in the bottom. There is a thrust washer that fits under the Roller Clutch so we made the decision that this unit should be stripped down and checked over. Having now worked on an overdrive I

realize this thrust washer is in a position that it could not break into three pieces and find its way into the bot-tom of the unit. What I found was a badly worn casing which the end of the Sun wheel comes up against when the Sliding Member moves. Someone had opened the I.D. of a thrust washer and fitted it in this area to try and take care of the wear in the housing.

Susan decided to look around and see if she could get a better housing off a used overdrive and after a few weeks she found two partly stripped units from Mike Ash. Both of these were worn in the same area but one had been repaired with a brass shouldered bush fitted to the area. When reassembling do not forget to fit the Snap Ring to the Sun wheel, and fit it through the Sliding Member Asm. Before bolting the Clutch Release and Engagement Springs in place. Putting the Roller Clutch back together made me scratch my head. But, I cut two small r e c t a n g u l a r pieces approx. ½”X ¼” from a bit of 1/8” alu-minum plate. Then put the ring & spring over the Roller Clutch and rotated the ring against spring pressure while carefully holding the unit steady put the two pieces of aluminum in the two groves on the top. Then with a slight touch of grease on the rollers (to hold them in place) I placed them into the roller slots of the ring. Hoping that the unit would hold together for a few seconds more I lowered the unit into place and removed the aluminum pieces. I then

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finished the assembly of the unit but could not at this point mount it to the gearbox (I was waiting for a gas-ket). So I experimented with putting the unit back onto the gearbox. The splined shaft on the gearbox has to line up with two separate pieces the Sun Wheel and the Roller Clutch. I don’t remember how many times I tried to line these two up and mount the unit, knowing full well that if I did get them together I would have to pull them apart again to put the gasket on. I did not get them lined up and started to think how can I make something to line up the splines in the Sun Wheel and Roller Clutch. I could not find a thing to do this in my garage, but did notice that if I split the overdrive unit Rear casing from the Main casing I could put the Main casing on first, then the Rear. But you must hold the Planet Gears in place with your finger tips in the rear housing (I did not the first time) and had to disassemble the Sliding Member unit again to get the Sun Wheel out and reline the Planet Gears with the marks on the Sun Wheel. Now, with the unit finished I looked at how I could test it before putting it in the car? I knew I had to turn the shafts fast enough to get the pump operating. I checked the RPM of the air compressor I had in the garage and decided if I could get about a 4” pulley on the Gearbox input shaft that it just might work. So I took the center spline out of an old clutch plate and a spare crankshaft pulley, bolted the two to-gether and used a couple of hose clamps to keep it in position on the input shaft and I was in business.

First test, I was not sure if it was working. I had the gearbox unit hanging on the engine lift and found I had to hold on to one of the chains to keep the tension on the belt and was not sure if I would be able to feel or hear the changing of the overdrive unit. So I decided I needed to do a pressure test to find out. I borrowed a high pressure gauge from Bob and then needed to make an adapter. So, I took one of the spare Relief Valve Plugs and drilled a 1/8” hole through the middle from the inside (to make sure I was in the middle of

the ‘O’ ring) and then drilled and tapped it out for a ¼” NPT from the outside (making sure I did not go through to the ‘O’ ring). Tried the over-drive test and found I did not have pressure at the gauge. I first checked the solenoid and relief valve because I could do this without draining the oil and all looked. OK here, so I took the bottom cover off with the thought of looking carefully at what I had before taking pieces

off to see if I had everything in place correctly. First I checked the pump movement while turning the shaft and I could see the spring compressing as the cam ro-tated, so I started to pull the pump apart and found that the piston and roller assembly was not in the unit. Well, I found my problem but could not see the piston unit inside, I had to lower the unit to the floor and turn it over before I found the piston. I can only assume that when I was putting it together that the piston again got hooked on the side of the casting and when the spring was compressed the piston fell away from the casting and allowed the piston to spring out of the top of the spring. Final test, this time I had the pressure but still could not hear any sound changes showing that the overdrive was kicking in. So I decided I needed to use my stethoscope to listen and found I did not have enough hands to hold the tension on the belt, hold the stethoscope, switch the compressor on and activate power to the solenoid. Time to call Olive in to help and between us, I got to hear the unit working though the stethoscope and Olive said she could hear a differ-ence in the sound when she activated the solenoid. In conclusion, I would like to say this was the first time I had striped an overdrive and, although I worked with care, it was VERY EASY to miss the two prob-lems I had with the Pump and hope that telling you about my misfortunes will help you if you have a go on your own overdrive. I do feel it was easier to work on a unit lying on my back under the car than standing by the side of a unit hanging on a chain where it can swing freely. When working on a pump unit and trying to put it back in, remember that the pump sitting on top of the spring only rests in the top of the cylinder about 1/16” and can easily be toppled. Also, have the cam turned up to the top position so that you are not working against more pressure. I also used a ½” bolt with a nut turned down the threads about 3/8” placed in the bot-tom of the cylinder to hold it upright and push it up into the housing.

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MG Sightings Alan Watson

This '76 Midget was spotted on Rt. 460 in W i l s o n s , VA. It is for sale, along with a parts car, both

have titles, both for $900. Contact Jimmy Pruitt for more info, (804) 265‑8487.

English ale – A Medical Prescription? Geoff Wheatley

There are certain things that our Fathers tell us

that we don't believe especially when we were twenty-one and he is an ancient fifty with one foot in the grave. Well I ask, how wrong can you be! My father insisted that English Ale made with Kent hops and served in flagons, was good for your health and well being. He even went as far as suggesting that it could extend your sex life and your age. At that time my bevy at the local pub was a sophisticated import at twice the price of a local ale but it went well with the fancy fags like Lucky Strike or Marlborough purchased from the local Ameri-can Airbase or rather the local Americans from the lo-cal American Airbase, in company with Juicy Fruit and various other items that found their way into our local, (under the counter) marketing environment.

Now, some forty years later, my Dads words of wisdom not only ring true but have been confirmed. In the latest issue of the British Lancet, the bible of the British Medical Profession, it is reported that after seven years of independent study of beer drinkers and none beer drinkers, the former have a lower level of incidence for cancer and various other nasty things than the tea teetotalers. It would seem that hops work as a medical deterrent for a variety of problems especially those associated with us mature male drinkers. As I gave up the expensive imports years ago when such

pleasures were replaced by mortgage payments and school fees, my intake of good draft beer has increased and in consequence I can look forward to many more happy years with my MGs, providing I can get a little weight off to enable me to get back behind the steering wheel! It would seem that every silver lining has a dark cloud tucked away somewhere. There can be no doubt that beer is good for your prostate but not that helpful when you want to slip on a pair of tight jeans or squeeze into the Tux you purchased fifteen years ago!

See you in the bar. Geoff Wheatley

A Few Thoughts… Susan Bond

Less than a column to fill and I will be finished with this issue. So here are some things I have found. From the Virginian Pilot, Sunday, September 25, 2005, “This Week in History” column: 1955 — “Norview High School students began driver education using new cars equipped with automatic transmissions. The switch to automatic from manual was due in large part to the increase in automatic cars being produced by manufacturers. It was thought that within a few years the old-fashioned shifting mecha-nism would disappear completely.” From the Washington Post, by way of the Virginian Pilot, not sure of the date, “Fearless Traveler” column: A woman asked about renting a classic British sports car to drive around England. John Deiner replied that the Historic & Classic-car Hirers Guild (www.hchg.co.uk) could help, and The Open Road Classic Car Hire in Warwickshire offers a 69 B road-ster and a 73 GT. The only drawback is the price, about $700 for 4 days, $1170 for seven days, which includes insurance, taxes and a tank of gas (If you’ve ever bought gas in the UK, you know this is a valuable perk). And renters must be able to drive a stick-shift. (Guess that leaves out any who graduated after 1955.) From the Scions of Lucas web site: Carburetor is a French word meaning 'leave it alone'. Dick O'Kane ...make the suspension adjustable and they will adjust it wrong -- look what they can do to a Weber carburetor in just a few moments of stupidity with a screwdriver. Colin Chapman

The Tidewater MG Classics Susan Bond 541 Forest Road Chesapeake, VA 23322

FIRST CLASS

Dipstick The

Affiliated with

Winner of Old Cars Weekly “Golden Quill Award”

CHARITY DRIVEREBUILDING AN OVERDRIVE L/H TYPE

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/CreateJDFFile false /Description > /Namespace [ (Adobe) (Common) (1.0) ] /OtherNamespaces [ > /FormElements false /GenerateStructure false /IncludeBookmarks false /IncludeHyperlinks false /IncludeInteractive false /IncludeLayers false /IncludeProfiles false /MultimediaHandling /UseObjectSettings /Namespace [ (Adobe) (CreativeSuite) (2.0) ] /PDFXOutputIntentProfileSelector /DocumentCMYK /PreserveEditing true /UntaggedCMYKHandling /LeaveUntagged /UntaggedRGBHandling /UseDocumentProfile /UseDocumentBleed false >> ]>> setdistillerparams> setpagedevice